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Donating Milk?

I was wondering how to go about expressing milk to donate. Do I do it after a feeding? Do I do it on the same breast as I just nursed from or both breasts? I would love to donate milk and I produce plenty so if anyone can help me with this I would appreciate it very much.

I am a first time mommy to my beautiful Ayla born 7/28/11 8lbs and 8.5ozs.
She is now 5months and about 20lbs
I love and
My DH and I have never been more in love
I love this forum you are all my heroesYou awesome mammas' ROCK!!!

Re: Donating Milk?

Thank you I will check it out.

I am a first time mommy to my beautiful Ayla born 7/28/11 8lbs and 8.5ozs.
She is now 5months and about 20lbs
I love and
My DH and I have never been more in love
I love this forum you are all my heroesYou awesome mammas' ROCK!!!

Re: Donating Milk?

I kept a night pumping session. I try to keep my oversuppy constant (for me it is 3 oz a day). Otherwise, so I don't mess up balances, it is always what goes in baby +3 = what comes out of me. I also try to pump at the same time at night, so it act like an extra feeding. It doesn't always work out that way though, especially if I have been at work all day and pumped more than my lo ate (booger hates bottles). As far as logistics goes, I just treat it as I would another feeding. Whichever boob is full is the pumping boob. If you consistently do it before or after a feeding, I would worry that you will mess with fore/hind milk balances with your baby.

And if you are going to donate, make sure you know all about where you are donating. There are lots of places where the milk doesnt get to babies, but is used in research for formula. (not necessarily a bad thing, but depends on what you want done with it.).

Re: Donating Milk?

I have been working with HMBANA to try and donate. . . here's what I know.
First of all, be cautious about some milk banks. From what I understand, HMBANA is one of the only, if not the only, bank that donates solely to babies in need. Many of the milk banks are for formula research.

They require that you steam/sterilize your pump parts daily. There is a bacteria that can breed in the system that doesn't bother healthy babies but can make preemies sick. That said, if you have some frozen before you started daily sterilization, they will accept it but there is a small chance they won't be able to use it if it shows up having that bacteria.

You can't be using Fenugreek at all.

They require you to have your blood drawn every few months.

That's all I can think of right now, but feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

Re: Donating Milk?

I highly recommend going to facebook and typing in ''human milk for human babies'' and asking there. Then finding your local Human Milk for Human Babies (a page for each state plus international pages). This is a way to donate milk outside of a milk bank. Milk banks aee quite exclusive, one must have a script often and the cost is very expensive. Also some milk banks use milk for research vs going to babies. They absolutely all still need donors. There is another option though and that is human to human milk sharing. Where moms donate to moms in need, no oversight necessary. You can learn more at the site I recommended.

Re: Donating Milk?

So great of you to consider donating! I've been donating through the local HMBANA bank and have really enjoyed it. As the PP said, you do have to sterilize your pump gear daily, which is really the hardest part of donating. I also had oversupply, so in the beginning I was careful not to make it worse. I just pumped at night once while DS was sleeping. Now that we're almost at 11 months, I'm pumping less and considering adding another session to make more.

Re: Donating Milk?

The bank to which I donate included that guideline in their info - maybe the rules vary from bank to bank. It looks like the guideline in that PDF about washing twice with hot water is the substitute for sterilizing.